That's what I meant, sound cards I've had often do that when you select 'line in' as the recording channel and don't actually have anything plugged into that port. I really can't see it being necessary though, Ben is after all limitless in capabilities. ;

There's a file, around 200 to 300MB. The ending is like aw* (sry I don't know exactly, I'm currently not at home) This you've to rename as ogg. On my VLC this wasn't playable (curious, I know) - but it's convertable. I'll take a look at home. :-)

Edit2:
They're not making it easy, as the tracks aren't in the correct order in that file! Sound quality is awesome, by the way. Does anybody know how to check the spectrum of an audio file to check for data compression?

I'm very disappointed by such misleading statements, because I think that 90% of us is going to buy this release just because of the extra contents.

I'm happy that it's possible to rip the audio files quite easily!
About OGG files, if the format is OggPCM then it's lossless audio, otherwise if the format is OggVorbis it's lossy with variable bitrate.

So the bitrate should be around 190 kbps. It's a huge step upward from the in-game MI1 music, but wasn't MI2's music uncompressed in-game? Still the Collection's tracks sound different than in-game... not only regarding arrangement (like in "Woodtick Suite"), but also instrumentation (the slap bass in MI2's opening is different from the one in the game). It might be worth compiling a complete soundtrack including these alternates. Also MI1 features a "flute less" main theme in the menu (which the Collection's launcher uses as well, although not complete), which should be included too.

Still the Collection's tracks sound different than in-game... not only regarding arrangement (like in "Woodtick Suite"), but also instrumentation (the slap bass in MI2's opening is different from the one in the game).

Alternative takes? VERY very interesting.
I was wondering how each track ends, since the iMuse system implies loops. Maybe it's where these different arrangements come from?
By the way I love that slap bass in MI2 and I think that on the Special Edition version is not as good as it should be.

If it's OGG it's probably not as simple as that Laser, unlike MP3 it always uses variable bitrates so parts of a track could be like 16kb/s and others 320kb/s depending on the audio detail at any given moment. It uses quality levels rather than bitrates to determine overall quality, and I believe higher qualities basically increase the maximum bitrate it can balloon to when needed.

Without further analysis it could very well be the OGGs are set to the maximum quality level which would mean sounding at least as good as a 320kb/s MP3, which would be pretty great — although I'd still prefer a proper CD release at some point.

Without further analysis it could very well be the OGGs are set to the maximum quality level which would mean sounding at least as good as a 320kb/s MP3, which would be pretty great — although I'd still prefer a proper CD release at some point.

Yeah, I totally agree. I would be ready to pay a few extra bucks for a stand-alone music CD.

Seriously doubt it. They also changed Guybrush's head. But the launcher still shows the original box arts complete with classic hair. As do the screenshots. I doubt anything's changed, but I don't have a copy so I can't confirm.

Guys i'm messing with that audio file: "default.aws" (included in the Launcher.pak) and i did this: remaned it from *.aws -> *.ogg, converted it from *.ogg -> *.ogg but did not cut it. It has awesome quality!!!. Does any of you cut it in tracks?

Edit: i forget to mention that i used Easy CD-DA Extractor [Ultimate] in the process of convertion, it did a great job!!

Edit 2: they DEFINITELY are the "master tracks" of the games, the trumpets are simply GREAT!!

Opening the default.aws with audacity shows a selection window with different streams (recognizing them as Ogg Vorbis) and imports the selection as separate stereo tracks, which makes exporting very easy! (no need to edit)

At some point I'll update Monkey Island Explorer to support the .awb files but for now I'll just knock together a quick dumper with everything hardcoded to get the ogg's out with the correct filenames.

Done it. It took a bit longer than expected because I did it properly rather than make a quick brute force dumper. It parses the .awb file and then dumps the music from the .aws file, its all automatic - just point it to launcher.pak and it'll take care of the rest.